Wolves v Manchester City: Premier League – live | Premier League
Key events
84 min: O’Reilly is booked for a late tackle, made back in the day on … dunno … can’t remember … Peter Broadbent? Norman Deeley? Ron Flowers? It was a long time ago.
82 min: A sub apiece. Stones is replaced by Khusanov, while Hwang comes on for Strand Larsen.
GOAL! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-4 Manchester City (Cherki 81)
Cherki dances his way left to right along the curve of the Wolves D, before threading a shot into the bottom left. Another City new boy scores on his Premier League debut!
80 min: Cherki pings a couple of triangles down the right with O’Reilly, who crosses through an empty box. A waste of some fine build-up. No matter, though, because …
78 min: The quadruple change has given Wolves some new energy, but it’s all huff and puff. City look completely comfortable.
76 min: Strand Larsen cuts in from the left and takes a whack. Trafford parries away from danger with strong hands.
74 min: … and City respond to that slew of subs by replacing Haaland for Cherki, another Premier League debutant.
73 min: Wolves respond to City’s changes with a quadruple substitution. Moller Wolfe, Bellegarde, Hoever and Andre make way for Rodrigo Gomes, Hugo Bueno, Arias and Lopez, the latter pair making their Premier League debuts.
71 min: City stroke it around in their patient time-honoured style.
69 min: Meanwhile Nunes’s first act is to usher the ball out for a goal kick, much to the annoyance of Moller Wolfe, snapping at his ankles. Oh, and the crowd, who aren’t letting this one go. Pantomime boos a-plenty!
67 min: Marmoush’s first act is to draw a rash foul out of Doherty, who goes into the book. “Haaland is unstoppable,” opines Mary Waltz. “Send him the Golden Boot already. It is inevitable.”
66 min: City make a triple change. Lewis, Doku and Silva are replaced by Nunes, Marmoush and O’Reilly. Nunes, formerly of Wolves, cops for some panto pelters.
65 min: That was Haaland’s tenth Premier League goal against Wolves, who now sit atop his personal list. West Ham are next on it, having been on the end of his absurd talent nine times.
63 min: Strand Larsen and Lewis point, paw and bicker at each other awhile. The referee tells them both to stop playing silly buggers.
GOAL! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-3 Manchester City (Haaland 61)
This is an absolutely wonderful goal. Trafford launches a long pass down the right. Reijnders takes it down from the sky with a cushioned touch. He one-twos down the inside-right channel with Bobb, enters the box, then cuts back for Haaland, who smacks a low shot across Sa and into the bottom left. Sa might have got a stronger hand to it, but nevertheless, what a move, what a team goal. What a player Reijnders is!
59 min: A free kick for Wolves out on the right. With everyone lined up on the edge of the box, awaiting the cross, Bellegarde surprises everyone except Strand Larsen by slipping a cute pass down the inside-right channel. Strand Larsen doesn’t quite catch his shot properly, but it balloons up, forcing Trafford to tip over. Nothing comes of the resulting corner, but the last few minutes have given Wolves a little bit of hope as they search for the goal that would get them back into the game.
57 min: Munetsi makes bueno down the right and fizzes a low ball through the City six-yard box. There’s nobody there in Old Gold to poke home.
56 min: Doku chases after a long pass in the hope of breaking clear on goal. But the whistle goes, because the opportunity only arose after Haaland had smacked into Toti.
54 min: Bellegarde nips in ahead of Reijnders in the centre circle. He’s got Moller Wolfe in space on the left, and a counter-attack is on. So Reijnders takes one for the team, cynically nudging him from behind. A yellow card to go with his goal and assist-to-the-assist for the opener.
52 min: Strand Larsen returns. With little else going on, Pat Collins peruses the team-sheets downpage in the MBM. “At least Vitor Pereira can turn to his bench with a look of deep consideration on his face and exclaim ‘Oh! Good-Good!’,” he quips, before having the decency to apologise in lower case.
“sorry”
50 min: Strand Larsen requires some treatment after clashing knees with Ait-Nouri. He looks in some pain. He eventually gets up and hobbles to the touchline, though he needs more time. Wolves down to ten for the moment.
48 min: Hoever, on the right, plays a glorious first-time crossfield pass towards Moller Wolfe, who would have been clear on goal had he controlled. Reader, he did not control. A fine opportunity flies out of play. What vision from Hoever, though.
46 min: Almost a perfect start to the half for Wolves, as Doherty rolls a long pass down the right for Hoever, whose low cross finds Strand Larsen, ten yards out. Strand Larsen looks to guide a shot into the bottom right, but his effort whistles inches wide. Trafford might have had it covered; he might not.
Wolves get the second half started. No changes.
Half-time postbag. “Contrary to what you might see in the Canadian or Scandinavian tundra, Reijnders has absolutely terrorised Wolves” – Peter Oh
“These headlines write themselves: Reijnders guides the slay” – Chiwode
“I’m thinking back to famous Wolves-City clashes from the past, and those barrel-chested, fag-smoking greats Mike Bailey and Franny Lee. Barrel chests are sadly a thing of the past in these nutrition-specialist, controlled-diet days” – Jeremy Boyce
“Is it true that the pea in Jarred Gillett’s whistle is the only one in the Premier League to rotate in a clockwise direction?” – Justin Kavanagh
HALF TIME: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Manchester City
That’s why they’re champions a good shout to become champions for the seventh time in nine seasons.
45 min +4: Reijnders wins a corner down the right. Silva hits it long. Haaland flicks it on to Doku, whose bodyshape, mid-jump, is all wrong to either control or shoot from close range. Doku might have anticipated that flick-on better. That perhaps should have been 0-3.
45 min +2: Lewis attempts to shepherd a ball out for a goal kick, but he’s hassled from behind by Munetsi and is forced into conceding a corner. He claims to have been illegally skittled from behind, and he’s got a point, but the referee’s not buying it. The resulting corner nearly leads to a chance, too, as it’s hit long for Gomes, who can’t quite get a shot away on the right-hand edge of the six-yard box. His eventual dinked cross is plucked from the sky by Trafford.
45 min +1: Hoever curls a cross in from the right. Strand Larsen attempts to sweep home from the penalty spot, but he’s half-falling and gets the job all wrong. Trafford claims. The flag would have gone up for offside anyway.
45 min: Bad news for Wolves: there will be five additional first-half minutes.
44 min: Silva takes that corner. Dias wins a header. Haaland competes for another. The ball’s half-cleared. Doku performs a cute back-heel on the right touchline. This particular period of pressure eventually comes to nothing, but Wolves could do with hearing the half-time whistle. They were looking good for a brief moment or two, but now they’re chasing shadows.
43 min: … City win a corner out on the left, a result of Doku’s twisting and turning.
42 min: Munetsi is OK to continue. When play restarts, Reijnders, who is everywhere, wins a corner for City down the right. From which …
41 min: Another Wolves player takes an accidental whack to the head. This time it’s Munetsi, slapped by Stones as the pair contest a high ball. On come the physios again.
